Ancient ancestors

SIR – It is by no means impossible that a person living today, and not necessarily that far advanced in age, could have an 18th-century grandfather (Letters, July 10).

An old friend of mine was born in 1944 to a father aged 77, who had first seen the light of day in 1867.

If late procreation ran in the previous generation of his family, it is conceivable that the grandfather of my 72-year-old friend could have been born before the end of the 18th century.

Howard Buchanan Isham, Northamptonshire

SIR – The 10th President of the United States, John Tyler, was born in 1790, and as of last year had two living grandchildren: Lyon Tyler (born in 1924) and Harrison Tyler (born in 1928).

Their father (also Lyon Tyler) was born in 1853.

Bobby Ingram Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire